Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

In fact, many of us do not know that there is only one kind of Marquis that we call in China, but there are several words that can be translated as "Marquis" in the West.And those few words represent different western marquises.That said, there are several varieties of Marquis in the West.Among the various marquises, the status is different.

The author has also encountered this problem. When my brother took the "Sixth Level" test for the first time, he was surprised to find that there are more than [-] names for small knives in British kitchens in the reading questions.But I only know one kind of "knife".The result of this test, of course, the author ran away, but it also made the author resentful. Now, our two knives in China are already very great. I didn’t expect to play more than [-] knives in the UK.

And for the purpose of raising Wu Shigong's status and satisfying his vanity, what Carelli told Gonzales was the noblest kind among marquises.This kind of Marquis, the standard translation is - Elector Marquis.

Before introducing the elector, we also need to introduce some common sense.The first is the difference between an emperor and a king.In modern society, there are also emperors and kings, but we basically treat them as the same kind as heads of state.

But at the time of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was the East or the West, the emperor and the king were completely different identities.Or in fact, or in name, the king is to obey the emperor's order.So we can also often see in history books that Chinese emperors canonized such-and-such kings of overseas vassal states.A king who has not been canonized by the emperor is illegal.To explain it in modern diplomatic terms, it is: not recognized by the international community.

In the East, however, there is only one emperor, and that is the emperor of the central power, and the others are kings.Of course, there is another one hiding in the island dwarf country.The one who surreptitiously called himself the Emperor.However, China has never recognized him.

In the West, there is a religious leader, the Pope.Secularly, when Mehmet II transported warships from land into the Golden Horn like a genius and captured Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Empire actually perished.The only remaining emperor in Europe is the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.And, of course, a Tsar.But at that time, Russia had not yet integrated into the mainstream society in Europe, so the emperor was ignored.

However, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was not completely passed down from father to son.His emperor was elected by the electors, and one of the electors was selected to serve as the emperor.

Of course, this process is quite complicated to introduce.What kind of war and diplomacy between electors and princes to elect!The elected elector will be crowned by the Pope!If the Pope disagrees with the coronation, he will go to the Vatican to force the Pope to be crowned!The pope will also organize an anti-emperor alliance to fight the uncrowned emperor!Anyway, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, it is very troublesome, difficult, exciting and long to go from an elector to an emperor.

But all this is not the focus of this article.It is enough for us to simply understand.But we have to remember two points: the first is that the elector is qualified to be the emperor.This can also be seen.How high is the status and strength of the elector; the second is.Electors all have their own kingdoms.They also have the power to confer noble status on their subordinates and enfeoff territories.Therefore, the power of the elector is the same as that of the kings and grand dukes in Europe, but there are some differences in the title.

Now we should also understand why after Gonzalez and the others misunderstood Wu Shigong as the elector, little stars appeared in their eyes immediately.

After all, people like Gonzalez are middle and low-level military officers in Portugal, and they don't know much about the government structure of the Ming Dynasty.I also don't understand the role and strength of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Gonzalez and the others are basically Portuguese soldiers, they also came to the Far East to take risks and make a fortune.And now, under the guidance of the elector's wife, Carelli, how can he not show chivalry and fight for the title, fief and gold?

Tell the truth.The whole process is: Under the misleading of Carelli's vanity language, the Portuguese soldiers like Gonzalez were stunned.

Anyway, Wu Shigong didn't care whether Gonzalez and the others misunderstood, as long as they stayed now, it was fine.And Gonzalez and the others were eager to show their abilities in front of Wu Shigong.

This shot made Wu Shigong and the officers of the Runing Battalion look at each other with admiration, because Gonzalez and the others pointed out a major omission in the artillery team's shooting technique.

Gonzalez and the others also spoke highly of Wu Shigong's imagined curved artillery shooting, but they also pointed out that this is a special artillery shooting technique used under special circumstances. The role of shooting technology is not particularly large.Regarding this point, Wu Shigong and other officers of the Runing Battalion also admitted it.

Moreover, Gonzalez and the others pointed out that when the artillery shoots the ship, there is no need for a match at all. Just burn the shell red, put the shell directly into the barrel, and let the high-temperature shell ignite the gunpowder to shoot.

The biggest advantage of this approach is that the shells can not only break the wooden boards on the ship, but also the high temperature of the shells can directly cause the ship to burn.Because the burning parts of the ship are basically all on the upper part of the ship, it is also very inconvenient for people on board to get water and put out fires. Therefore, the destruction rate of the ship can be greatly increased.

People like Gonzalez have served on ships, so they are quite familiar with the artillery shooting methods commonly used on this ship.After the experiment, it also proved the correctness of their statement.

After hearing this statement, the officers of the Runing Battalion like Wu Shigong, especially those of the artillery team like Liang Hui were suddenly enlightened.It's really different with expert guidance and without expert guidance!

Then Gonzalez and the others started shooting with standard firearms.It is nothing more than decomposing the shooting action into more than [-] steps, let the soldiers master the decomposing action first, and the Portuguese officers are constantly correcting wrong actions.Then carry out the complete loading training of firearms.

This training method is very efficient. After only three days of training, it is obvious that the loading speed of the artillery and firecrackers has increased a lot.The Runing Battalion also made these decomposition movements into large pictures and hung them on the training ground so that every soldier can see them at all times.But this also made the [-] knives of paper Wu Shigong got back useful.

Frequent firearms training made the Runing camp full of gunfire and smoke every day.Wu Shigong simply ordered that there is no need to carry out regular bombardment of Dengzhou City.Anyway, the other Ming troops in the distance didn't know what the Runing Battalion was doing.It is better to save some gunpowder.

Afterwards, the rebels in Dengzhou City bought six hundred shi of grain twice at a high price.However, this does not prove that both parties have the sincerity to abide by the agreement.

The rebels have also stepped up the deployment of spies in the direction of the Henan Army to find out whether the Henan Army has relaxed its vigilance.And Wu Shigong also strengthened the sentry posts and spies, strangled those rebel spies who left the city, just to tell the rebels in Dengzhou city: I welcome honest business, and I will not be polite if you want to use your brain.

Therefore, in just a few days, the Henan army killed more than two dozen rebel spies who had left the city.Under such a heavy blow, the rebels also retreated.In the process of strangling, Huang Qifa also secretly sent people several times to send news that the rebel spies had been sent out of the city.

And Wu Shigong also sent someone to deliver twenty shi of grain to Huang Qifa's troops when they were defending the southern city wall at night.After going back and forth, some tacit understanding and a little trust have been formed between the two of them.

Wu Shigong did not take all the money he earned.One day, he called Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng over and gave them 1000 taels each.But Wu Shigong also put the ugly words up front: the money given was only given for the sake of fellow Henan fellows.The money earned by Runing Ying was earned by Runing Ying himself.If Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng were jealous, they could have taken the lead when they broke through Dengzhou City and took it from the rebels themselves.

Now Wu Shigong, he even pulled the artillery set up in the artillery position on the top of the hill back to his camp.Wu Shigong then made a big effort to build the camp of the Henan army, and made a posture of shrinking and defending.

Anyway, depending on the terrain of the small mountainous area outside the south of Dengzhou City, it is possible for a few small groups of rebels to run, but it is absolutely impossible for a large group of rebels to break out from here.Wu Shigong didn't want to take the initiative to attack Dengzhou City, so he might as well defend it with peace of mind!This can also completely eliminate the possibility of a sneak attack by the rebels.

During these days, Wu Shigong had a detailed talk with several major Portuguese military officers in Gonzalez.It is to take out all the things in their stomachs about Western military tactics and technology.

Runing Battalion has developed to the present, in the eyes of outsiders, it seems to have developed very powerfully, and among the officers inside the Runing Battalion, there is also a phenomenon of cocking their tails, but Wu Shigong himself is still a little bit uncertain.

The officers of the Runing Camp are basically half-way monks, and even Xue Yongli, the former guards of the Marquis of Yangwu, mostly talk about wars on paper, so the current Runing Camp can be said to have grown up from learning.

But in this battle to encircle and suppress Kong Youde's rebels, Wu Shigong's eyes were opened, and he knew that there were still many things he didn't understand.For example, the method of firing red-hot cannonballs that my artillery team just learned.

And Wu Shigong also discovered that there are many other tactics, such as the smashing tactic of Guan Ning's cavalry using three-eyed firecrackers for three shots.To be honest, Wu Shigong felt that their tactics were better than the cavalry of the Runing Battalion, which used medium-sized firecrackers to shoot and then sprinted with spears. At least there was no need to change weapons, which reduced the cavalry's error rate.

But Wu Shigong couldn't study, because the equipment of Runing Battalion had basically been finalized, and if he changed it, the whole cost would be too high.In addition, if the tactics are changed, the cavalry tactical training and drills will also be completely revised.So Wu Shigong couldn't afford to spend both money and time.

But if this is the only point, Wu Shigong is even more afraid that the Runing Battalion is taking a detour in other aspects. Therefore, Wu Shigong needs Gonzalez and the others to introduce the most advanced firearm tactics in the West at this time, so that the Runing Battalion will be less. Take some detours. (To be continued..)